Joan Rivers "Resting Comfortably" at NYC Hospital

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Updated at 6:55 AM EST on Friday, Aug 29, 2014

Comedian Joan Rivers was taken to a Manhattan hospital after she stopped breathing while having minor throat surgery at a clinic in the city Thursday morning, multiple sources familiar with the situation say.

Rivers, 81, was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in critical condition shortly before 10 a.m. after she stopped breathing while undergoing the procedure at Yorkville Endoscopy on East 93rd Street. The FDNY said she went into cardiac arrest.

Mount Sinai Hospital said Rivers is in stable but critical condition.

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Daughter Melissa Rivers said in a statement: "I want to thank everyone for the overwhelming love and support for my mother. She is resting comfortably and is with our family. We ask that you continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers."

A construction worker laboring outside the medical facility all morning said he saw Rivers walk in around 8 a.m.; he said he saw ambulances 90 minutes later.

Rivers' publicist could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Brooklyn-born Rivers became a household name with the 1960s launch of "That Show," her syndicated daytime talk show, and several high-profile appearances on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and "The Ed Sullivan Show."

She went on to become a film director, writer and actress, a best-selling author and 11-time novelist and the writer of a Grammy Award-nominated comedy album. Rivers was known for her fiery appearances on "The Celebrity Apprentice," which she won in 2011, and her pioneering brand of irreverent humor.

The larger-than-life Rivers coined the phrase "Can we talk?" in her standup routines and, interviewing fashionistas on the red carpet, introduced the question, "Who are you wearing?"

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She originally entered show business with the dream of a theatrical career, but comedy became a way to pay the bills while she auditioned for acting roles.

"Somebody said, 'You can make six dollars standing up in a club,'" she told The Associated Press in 2013, "and I said, `Here I go!' It was better than typing all day."

Rivers was nominated for five Emmy Awards, winning in 1990 for outstanding talk show host. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and recently launched a reality TV show starring her and her daughter. A 2010 documentary on her life won critical acclaim.